The Visitor
by Ranguvar27
Summary: Alannah is waiting out a storm at her shop when she hears a strange noise...and meets a rather odd and interesting man. One shot Crossover.


The Visitor

Alannah blinked awake, sighing as she mentally went over what she had planned for today. With Ilosovic and Michael both out on Patrol, and her daughters busy with jobs and lives of their own, she found that more and more often she was having to fill up a lot of empty hours. Granted, she still ran her side of the Shop, and her duties as Head Physician seemed to increase all the time, but there were still long stretches of time when she had absolutely nothing to do and nobody to talk with.

She completed her morning routine and fixed a pot of tea for the road before dashing outside, grimacing at the dark sky above. A storm was coming, which meant children playing in puddles and parents demanding her cold prevention tonic. She sighed to herself as she mounted Kaspar, urging him forward with a gentle flick of the reigns. As she rode towards Tramalin,she suddenly remembered that for a few days, she would be running both halves of the Shop, as Vicki and Josiah were on what could best be called a second honeymoon. Helena was being watched by Alice and Tarrant while her parents were away.

Alannah reached her shop just as the skies opened up. She cursed, and ran inside, resigning herself to a very long day with very few customers. 'Ah well, it will give me time to do inventory.' She turned to go into the storeroom when a strange sound came from behind her. It was a sort of loud whooshing noise, and it made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She eased her dagger out of her pocket and turned, ready to confront whatever it was that had made the noise-and her jaw dropped.

Sitting in the middle of her shop was a strange blue object. It was tall and rectangular, and written on what Alannah assumed were the doors were the words 'Police Public Call Box.' Before she could wonder what a Police Public Call Box was and what one was doing here, the doors opened and a man stepped out, and Alannah once again found herself gaping. He was the one of the oddest looking people she had ever seen-and that was saying a lot. He had a wild mop of brown hair on which was perched a ratty old fedora, and was wearing a maroon jacket, plaid shirt and brown pants. But what caught her eye was the scarf. It wrapped around his neck three times, and the tasseled ends dangled inches above the ground-quite impressive, as the man matched Alannah in height. He was looking around, a wide grin on his face, and finally spotted her. "Hello!" He noticed the dagger, and gave her a wary look. "I hope you don't plan to use that on me. I'm not dangerous. Well, at least not to you. I'm the Doctor, by the way."

Alannah sheathed her dagger and nodded a greeting. "Alannah Stayne. Well, Lady Alannah Stayne, M.D, to use my full title. But Alannah will do. So, Doctor, how did you get here?" She noticed the Doctor looked slightly disappointed, but he shook it off quickly and pointed to the box behind him.

"In my TARDIS. By the way, where is here?"

"Tramalin, a suburb of Snud, in the kingdom of Marmoreal, Underland. What's a TARDIS?"

"The TARDIS is my...ship, if you like. Underland? That sounds...wait. Under...land...Am I in Wonderland?!"

Alannah couldn't help but laugh at his eager tone. "You are indeed, Doctor." The Doctor grinned.

"Wonderful! But..I don't recall you from the books."

"Perhaps because I was not in them. There's more to Underland history than what Carroll wrote in his books. Much more."

The Doctor nodded knowingly. "There always is. Miss Stayne..."

"Missus."

"I beg your pardon. Mrs. Stayne, I do love a good story, and I'm in no real hurry to get anywhere. Once in a while, it's nice to relax. So d'you think...?"

Alannah grinned. "I'll make some tea and scones for us."

Hours later, the tea was drunk, the scones eaten, and the Doctor had just heard a very interesting story. Every now and then as Alannah was talking, he would interject with an exclamation, but mostly he kept silent as she wove her tale. "I must say, Mrs. Stayne, that was a fascinating story. You've been through quite a lot."

Alannah nodded, then gazed at the Doctor. "You have too. Doctor. You're older than you seem. Much, much older."

"So are you. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd put your actual age at sixty four."

"Sixty six, actually. My birthday was last week."

The Doctor frowned. "And yet you look no older than thirty two. May I ask how you manage?"

"I'm Frozen."

"Frozen?" replied the Doctor, puzzled.

"I stopped myself from aging. It's rather common with Underlanders, actually. We pick an age we like, and stop. Of course, there are mitigating factors. Once we're Frozen, it's permanent, and sometimes Time Freezes people for the slightest offense. He's very capricious."

"You speak of Time as though it was a person."

"Not a person. Not...really. But He's real, and depending on His mood, he can be either very benevolent or extremely dangerous. Why? Is He different where you're from?"

The Doctor thought for a moment, then laughed. "No, not at all." He coughed politely, then changed the subject. "I love your shop. I haven't been in a Apothecary for ages. Tell me, do you have a cauldron bubbling away somewhere?"

"Not at the moment."

"Pity. I do love a bubbling cauldron."

Alannah laughed. "Don't we all. Looks like the rain is finally ending, which means I'll be getting some customers soon." She stuck out her hand. "Doctor, it was nice chatting with you, and I hope we meet again sometime."

"It was lovely meeting you as well, Mrs. Stayne. Oh, before I go-would you like to see inside the TARDIS?"

"Of course!"

The Doctor grinned and led her to the doors, unlocking them with a small silver key. "Go on, have a look." Alannah stepped inside.

"BARLOM!"

"Barlom? What language is that?"

"Outlandish. Doctor, this is a magnificent vessel. But somehow I get the feeling she doesn't travel on the sea."

The Doctor nodded. "You'd be right. The TARDIS-that's Time And Relative Dimensions In Space -can travel anywhere in time and space."

"Anywhere?"

The Doctor smiled, recognizing the excited tone in Alannah's voice. "Anywhere. You wouldn't care to go on a quick trip, would you? I could take you to the edge of the universe or the end of time and have you back in five minutes."

Alannah shook her head. "I've had enough adventure to last me a lifetime, Doctor. I have family here, and responsibilities. As wonderfully tempting as your offer sounds, I can't. However, I will ask a favor, if I may."

"Of course."

Alannah grinned madly. "Come back someday for another visit."

"That I will most certainly do. Goodbye, Mrs. Stayne."

"Fairfarren, Doctor."

"Fairfarren?"

"It means, may you travel under fair skies."

"What a lovely thought. Until we meet again." He doffed his hat at her, and she curtseyed before stepping out of the TARDIS, eyes wide as she watched it vanish.

"Wow." The sound of the bell made her turn, and she smiled at her first customer of the day.

"Good day Sir, how can I help you?"

FIN.


End file.
